


Reach for me

by Serpents_Sky



Series: Welcome to the Chaos Squad [2]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Doesn't mean they get to escape the general shittiness of life, Just because it's an Alternative Universe, M/M, Mentions of Sex, You guys thought this was going to be crack, alternative universe, communication is important, think again, with a bit of fluff at the end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-16 02:21:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28699086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Serpents_Sky/pseuds/Serpents_Sky
Summary: Levi groaned as his head hit the floor.Why was the brat sprawled on top of him?Even though he had no idea what was going on, he knew one thing for sure. This was all Hanji’s fault.
Relationships: Levi/Eren Yeager
Series: Welcome to the Chaos Squad [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2103549
Kudos: 101





	Reach for me

Levi was _pissed_.

No, not pissed. Enraged. Furious. Livid. Infuriated.

His scowl deepened. He was starting to sound like Erwin. The bastard always sounded like he sniffed up the entire thesaurus or some shit. Goddammit. As if this week hadn’t been shitty enough.

“Oops”, the target of his ire chirped as they looked at the brown puddle on the floor. “My bad.”

“Of course it’s your bad”, Levi seethed. “You pushed it off!”

“On accident.”

“HOW CAN THAT BE A-”

He took a deep breath. He was okay. The floor was easy to clean. And Hanji had drunk most of the coffee anyway. The stain wasn’t that bad.

“Levi, if you keep frowning like this, your face is going to be stuck that way.” They leaned closer. “You look constipated. Have you been breathing in too much detergent fumes again?”

He gritted his teeth. Levi was going to kill them one day. One day soon.

His fingers twitched at his side. No cutting. No use getting blood on the floor. But strangling could work.

Yes.

Oh, how he longed for the ability to reach out and strangle them.

He took another deep breath, flexing his fingers, trying to calm down enough to use his voice.

“Just- Just go, okay? You own me some new cleaning materials.”

“Okay”, Hanji chirped. “You’re the boss.”

And as if nothing was wrong, they basically skipped away.

If he had been paying attention, he would have heard the soft clinking of keys being pulled of their hanger.

He wasn’t. He was too busy trying to slow down his breathing.

Levi groaned, rubbing his hand across his face.

He knew Hanji had only been here to cheer him up. But couldn’t understand why they had to do it this way.

They literally drooled all over his windows (Why. Just _why_ ) before Levi managed to kick them to the ground.

With a heavy exhale, he dropped his hands and stared to the floor with disdain.

Did they want to give him more to clean? Because if they did, they certainly succeeded.

He did a sharp turn on his heel and stormed to the cleaning cabinet. He was almost done-

Well, he had been done. Several times. But that wasn’t important-

And now he had to fix the fucking floor. And the windows.

His scowl deepened even further. Hanji better be back quick with a shitload of detergent, or else he was going to rethink his earlier decision and snap their neck like a toothpick.

______________

Levi was seated on his knees, scrubbing the last remains of coffee of the floor when the doorbell rang.

“Fucking finally”, he snarled to himself, storming to the door.

There was a convenience store five minutes away, what the fuck had that moron been doing-

He tore the door open.

“Finally back, you useless piece of shit-”

He froze, brain stuttering as it tried to take in the scene before him.

Hanji, at the side, exited to an extreme.

Eld, smiling nervously.

Three of the brat’s friends, all looking ready to bolt.

And the brat himself, dangling like hunted game, glare strong enough to kill a man.

What the _fuck._

There was nothing in the world that could have prepared him for the sight that greeted him. And, consequently, he couldn’t prepare himself for the body of his boyfriend being thrown at him like some sort of demented Frisbee.

They both went down hard; Eren’s unnecessarily long limbs scraping against the walls before he crashed against the floor. Crushing Levi with his weight.

He scowled, punching the boy in his ribs. “Get off of me, you fucking brat”, he wheezed.

Eren did, rolling to the side, couching as something was spat from his mouth. Like a hairball. With spit and slime and-

The sight made Levi’s skin crawl.

_“What”_ , he said, this time out loud. “ _The fuck_.”

“Oh excuse me, Mister Clean”, the brat hissed. “But your germaphobia is not more important than my capability to _breathe_.”

“Not in my house”, Levi hissed back. He kicked the rest of the brat’s body of him, getting to his feet.

The brat’s glare intensified. “Nice to know where stand on your list of priorities.”

"With disgusting you are, you should rank even lower”, he snapped back.

“Fuck you”, Eren spat, also rising to his feet.

Levi snorted. Real original. The noise seemed to make the brat even angrier, but what didn’t, really. He hadn’t started to scream yet, but if this went down like it had a week ago, they would be there in no time.

By some herculean effort, Eren seemed to pull himself back from the edge. “You know what”, he spat. “I don’t have to listen to you.” He aggressively turned the door handle. Or he tried. It didn’t budge. 

“It’s locked.” Eren seemed so surprised he forgot to be angry.

Levi looked at the doorknob and felt the twitch in his hands return.

_Hanji_.

He was going to murder them. Them, and whoever was involved in this.

“Great”, Eren muttered, turning on his heel and storming past Levi.

Oh no, he wouldn’t. Levi stalked after him. If they were locked in here, Eren was going to clean up his own mess. Even if Levi had to force him to force the brat to the floor and use him as a dirt rag.

“Wait up, brat”, he snapped.

Eren, in typical fashion, ignored him and continued his path to the windows.

The dirty windows that were located three floors high-

Before he knew it, he had caught Eren by the arm, pulling him back.

“Absolutely not.”

Eren refused to turn around, but he didn’t try to tug himself loose either. Probably because he knew it wouldn’t make a difference.

“And why _not_?”

“Are you so desperate to run?” Levi taunted, instead of answering. “I never took you for a coward.”

That made him turn, eyes ablaze in anger.

“Don’t blame this all on me! You didn’t try to contact me either.”

Levi pushed him away, releasing his arm in process. Eren was quick to take a step back and widen the distance. “Would you have picked up your phone?”

“YES!”

The look on his face must have said enough, because Eren scoffed.  
  


“Wow. Well, thank you”, he drawled. “Thank you for showing how much faith you have in me. Again.”

Levi’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t bring that up.”

“And why not?” Eren threw his hands in the air. “Why not bring it up again? You were soooo sure of yourself last time.”

“Just because I said what I did, doesn’t mean I don’t have faith in you”, Levi gritted out. That much was true at least.

Eren scoffed, refusing to look him in the eye. “That’s not what it sounded like.”

“Well, maybe that’s because you’re an insecure brat.”

Eren gritted his teeth. “Fuck you.”

His lips twisted in a sneer. “Did I touch a nerve? Hurt your feelings?”

Eren turned around without a word and moved towards the window.

That piece of shit-

“Hey!”

Another harsh tug and Eren stumbled back with a yelp.

“I said no, you fucking brat. You’re not climbing out.”

Eren was shaking under his hold. If Levi hadn’t proved time and time again that he could lay him flat on his ass in a second, he would already have gotten a punch to the face. If this escalated, he would probably try it anyway.

“So you’re just going to keep me here? Until someone opens the door for us?”

“They can’t keep us here forever.”

Eren choked out a harsh laugh. “Have you ever met them? They’re all insane.”

“Like you?”

Levi could _feel_ the air getting tenser. As if it hadn’t been tense enough already. It made Levi want to punch something. How did they even get here?

_They had been sitting on the couch, Eren between his legs, watching some shitty movie neither of them was paying attention to, when the shitfest began._

_“Do you think Mikasa should go to therapy?”_

_Levi frowned. “What brought this on?”_

_Eren shrugged. “I don’t know. I just… She is kind of overdependent, isn’t she?”_

_Levi barely withheld a scoff. That was an understatement. “She is, yeah.”_

_“Yeah.” Eren was probably frowning, even if Levi had a hard time seeing Eren’s face from this position. “Therapy is supposed to help with that, or something.”_

_“Or something”, Levi replied dryly. “What about you?”_

_Looking back, he almost wished he hadn’t said it. But Levi wasn’t one to mince his words. He wasn’t starting now._

_He knew the second the words left his mouth that he said something wrong. Eren had stiffened._

_“What about me?” Eren said slowly._

_“Shouldn’t you go to therapy?”_

_Eren sat up, slowly, turning so they were face to face. “And what is that supposed to mean.”_

_“That you should consider therapy- Christ, do you have shit in your ears or something?”_

_Eren’s teeth were already grinding together. “No”, he said, forcibly calm. “Why. Should I consider therapy?”_

_“Have you ever looked at yourself?”_

_And that’s when the fight broke out._

_Ten minutes later, Eren stormed out of the apartment, too angry to even put on his jacket. The jacket remained in Levi’s flat, even a week later._

Right. That was how. And now, they were back where they started, because their friends were a bunch of fucking meddlers why kept sticking their nose in everyone else’s business.

Except this time there was no screaming. Small mercies. Eren was, however, still glaring at him

“I am not going to apologize.”

Eren scoffed.

“I’m serious, Eren.” He crossed his arms. No way he was backing down about this. ‘”I had a point, and you know it.”

Eren scoffed again, louder. “I don’t need therapy.”

He tried, again, to go for the nicer approach. It hadn’t worked last week, but who knew.

“Eren, he said, lowering his voice. You lost both your parents. It’s okay to-”

“I. Don’t. Need. To.”

Levi gritted his teeth and tried to contain his temper. They were finally speaking again after days of radio silence, but he knew his boyfriend well enough to know how close he was to losing it again. One wrong comment and Eren would jump out the window if it was what it took to get away. Not that Levi would let him, but still.

“Don’t you think you’re being a little hypocritical?” He tried again. “You want to send Mikasa to therapy, but you refuse to go yourself.”

“Mikasa is overly dependent on me”, Eren snarled.

“And you have fucking anger issues”, Levi snapped back, his own temper flaring. “I know you’re a fucking moron, but tell me you are at least smart enough to see that.”

“And what about you?” Eren snapped right back. Levi definitely hit a mark. “You accuse me from being a hypocrite, but you’re one too, mister clean freak.”

Levi took a deep calming breath, allowing the words to hang in between them. The brat twitched, a flash of guilt on his face, before it was buried under the anger. Whatever. He didn’t care anymore. He was tired of arguing.

“Who said I didn’t?”

Eren froze, anger cooling in his confusion.

“What?”

“Who said I didn’t”, Levi repeated. “Who says I didn’t go to therapy?”

“Well”, Eren asked challengingly, even if it lacked any bite. It seemed like the brat was tired of fighting too. Or he was just too shocked. “Did you?”

“I did. For a while.”

He watched as Eren processed the words. Saw how it was reflected in his posture. How he shifted from crouching, tense muscles, ready to fight to a more open one. He straightened himself, arms crossing over his chest. He looked unsure. Vulnerable. Still, he struggled to maintain his previous momentum, because if there was one thing Eren was not, it was a quitter.

“I’m not weak”, Eren said coldly. “I’m not.”

Levi looked at his arms, which had started to tremble faintly. Weak was not a word he ever had associated with Eren. Nothing in this conversation had changed that.

Levi had been part of the same system. He knew it could be shit. It had been shit, until Erwin and Hanji dragged him out of it. He didn’t know what happened to Eren to make him the way he was. He hoped Eren would one day feel comfortable enough to tell him.

Until then, there were other things he could do.

“You’re not”, he reassured, stepping closer. “Nobody said you were. It wasn’t even implied.”

“I don’t need help”, Eren choked out. “I don’t need it. There is nothing wrong with me.”

He stepped even closer, close enough that he could draw Eren in a loose hug.

Eren sagged into him, despite their difference in height. His arms were tight around Levi’s torso and he couldn’t seem to decide whether to rest his head on top of Levi’s or to hide in the crook of his neck, resulting in him nuzzling Levi like some overgrown cat. Or maybe that was his intention. Levi didn’t say anything, just held the brat close. Seemed like he needed a little comfort. He allowed the hug to continue, running his hands over the brat’s back. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t missed Eren. After a while, however, he drew back. He still had things to say. A hug, how nice it may be, didn’t solve the problem. Levi refused to leave it to fester. Not with someone like Eren, who could win from a mule in terms of sheer bullheadedness.

Eren drew back too, if a bit more reluctant.

He looked into Eren’s eyes, making sure he had the brat’s attention. Eren looked back, eyes focused. Seemed he had it then. Good.

“Asking for help doesn’t make you weak.” Eren’s eyes narrowed, but he remained silent.

“Your ability to hurt others isn’t what makes you strong.”

Now that hit a mark, because Eren winced, the little fight left in him draining.

“I don’t want to get angry”, he whispered. He looked away again, blush dusting his cheeks, as if it was some shameful little secret. “It just… it happens.” He bit his lip. “Everything just gets so much and something in me snaps and the world turns hazy, and I don’t mean to. I swear I don’t mean to.”

“Eren, you got anger issues. That doesn’t make you broken.”

“I feel like I am.” The confession was choked out as Eren ducked his head, trying to hide his eyes. “I mean, there must be something wrong with me. Why else would- ” He choked on his words, swallowed them back in. Levi wanted to know what he almost said, but he wouldn’t push it. Not today.

Eren squeezed his eyes shut. “My emotions just get so overwhelming and I can’t stop them and when I try, the thing containing them just break further- ”He choked on his next breath, palms pressing against his eyes. “I can’t do anything to stop it. It makes me feel like I lost all control. Like I am just…. built wrong.”

Levi frowned. “There’s nothing wrong with you- ”

“Then why the fuck do you want me to go to therapy?!”

And that was the crux of the matter, wasn’t it.

“Because I want you to get better.”

Eren lowered his hands and Levi reached out, intertwining their fingers. Grounding him.

“You go to a good university. They have a school therapist. A licensed one and all. And maybe therapy isn’t for you, but you can’t know that unless you try. You have three years left at this place with a shrink that’s free. What do you have to lose?”

“I guess… I don’t know.” Eren paused, looking at their interlocked hands, just so he wouldn’t have to look at Levi. “I don’t know”, he repeated softly.

Eren was a lot more secretive than one would think when meeting him for the first time. And sharing your secrets with a stranger was … difficult. Stressful. Once Eren decided to go, he would go until he decided it wasn’t necessary anymore. His own stubbornness wouldn’t allow it otherwise. In a way, he would be trapped with someone hell-bent on knowing his secrets, even if it was for Eren’s benefit. All in…

“Are you afraid of not being in control?” Out of the two of them, Levi was considered the control freak. And that was true, to a certain extent. Because Levi was a control freak, but so was Eren. He just showed it in a different way. Eren, Levi found, was very particular about his freedom. Even if that term was a bit more all-encompassing than it was for most people. If he felt trapped, he felt vulnerable, consciously or not. He got angry, he lashed out. Simple as that.

Which was probably why he was already spitting fire when they threw him inside the apartment. He hated being forced to do things, even if it was out of sheer principle.

It was almost funny. Their friends had planned something as elaborate as this, but had almost set themselves up for failure. By setting them off- Hanji by dirtying his place and the rest by dragging Eren here with force- they had made them both irrational and angry before they even could start to talk.

Eren shook his head. “It’s not that. If I was afraid of that, I wouldn’t date you.”

Now that was news. He raised an eyebrow. “How so?”

Eren smiled, embarrassed.

“You are stronger than me. It’s… reassuring. In a way. Knowing that, if I loose my shit, you can and will slap some sense into me.”

That… made a disturbing amount of sense.

“Is that why you got all starry eyed when I floored you?”

Eren’s lip twitched. “You were one of the first to shut me down that quick. At least, without hurting me.”

Now there was a story Levi wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

Eren sighed, folding into himself so he could burry his head in Levi’s neck. “I guess I wanted that.”

Levi just hummed, not judging.

When he spoke, his voice was soft. “Just because I can take it doesn’t mean you can lash out,” he finally said, voice soft.

“I know.”

The next words where almost inaudible.

“I’ll go.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. You were right to begin with.” He raised his head, looking Levi in the eyes, his own big and brimming with guilt. “I’m sorry for kicking up such a fuss.”

He sighed. “No, fair is fair. I should have reached out to you too. Especially since I’m the more experienced one.”

Eren pouted. “You’re not that much older than me.”

“And yet I’ve reached a higher level of maturity than you ever will.”

His brow furrowed, suddenly recalling how Eren had arrived here. “I have been meaning to ask. Did they kidnap you?”

The groan that followed was answer enough. “I hate my friends”, he whined, dropping his head back into the crook of Levi’s neck.

Levi snorted, carting one hand through Eren’s hair. He grimaced at the feel of it. Seemed like he hadn’t been the only one not dealing with their fight that well. Eren let out a happy little sound, pushing his hand into Levi’s palm. An overgrown cat, for sure. Levi indulged him, alternating between lightly scratching his scalp and running his fingers through his hair.

With a soft hum, Eren moved back, locking his arms around his shoulders.

“So”, he drawled, batting his eyelashes. “I really missed you.”

Levi had too. But-

“No.”

“What?” Eren gaped. “Are you serious?”

“Fuck off. We’re not having sex in the apartment I just completely cleaned.” His eye twitched as he recalled Hanji drooling all over his windowsills. And Eren’s disgusting mess in the hall.

“Ah.” Eren’s eyes softened, somehow immediately understanding. “Right. Hanji said they fucked with your space.”

He gently extracted himself out of Levi’s hold and turned on his heel, walking to the cabinet where he kept all his cleaning material.

“Come on”, he said, rifling through the cabinet. “It will be quicker with the two of us.”

Levi’s heart seemed to skip a beat and speed up at the same time.

“You better”, he groused. “It’s partly your fault that Hanji got their filthy fluids everywhere.”

Eren turned his head, just to make a face. “Please don’t call it that.”

“You can’t judge”, Levi bit back, shuddering at the memory. “You just coughed up a hairball.”

“It was Sasha’s creation.” Eren stuck out his tongue, disgusted. “I think my taste buds kicked the bucket for the rest of the day. How she can eat those without dying is a mystery.”

“You poor thing”, Levi deadpanned.

Eren scoffed, but stood up, sponge in his hands. “I don’t need your sass,” he said haughtily. “Not when I helping you clean.”

“Partly your fault”, he reminded him, picking up his own cleaning supplies. Which reminded him…

“You”, he said, pointing to Eren. “Are going to take a shower after this.”

Eren perked up. “Will you join me?” He asked, eyes glinting mischievously.

“Shut up, brat.”

“That wasn’t a no~”

Levi rolled his eyes. “Just start cleaning. We’ll see.”

“Still not a no~”

_“Brat_.”

“I’m going, I’m going.”

______________

After their shower, they sat on the couch, both in clean clothing and making up for lost cuddling time.

Now everything had been settled, another problem popped up in Levi’s head. He narrowed his eyes. “How the fuck are we going to get out?” He refused to climb out of the window or to kick down his own front door.

Eren hummed, sound muffled from his position against Levi’s chest. “Give me your phone.”

Levi raised an eyebrow, looking down to his boyfriend. “Why?”

“Just do it.”

After a look, Eren grinned sheepishly. “Please?”

Levi rolled his eyes, but stood up, ignoring Eren’s whining as his pillow left. He was the one that wanted his phone.

“Here.”

Eren patted the seat next to him and wasted no time patting the space next to him and, once Levi had sat back down, wriggling himself back into cuddle position. When he was satisfied, he unlocked Levi’s phone, opening the camera.

“What are you doing?” Levi asked.

Eren shushed him, flipping the camera so that it was in selfie-mode. On the screen, they appeared. Levi, sitting on the couch, one of his arms around Eren’s shoulders. Eren, strewn across his lap and torso, and, more tellingly, in a different set of clothing than he arrived in.

Well, it certainly would send the clear message that they made up.

Eren put his fingers up in victory sign, took the picture and sent it to Hanji.

Hanji reacted within a second.

_Shitty glasses: That’s my favorite boys_

_Shitty glasses: Hold on, I’m gonne get you out_

_Shitty glasses: Momma is so proud of you._

Levi’s hand twitched by his side. He hadn’t been completely sure until now, but the decision was made. Hanji, or way or another, was going to pay.

Eren looked up to him, then back to the message that sent his boyfriend into a murderous rage and snorted.

“They helped”, he reminded him, managing to snuggle even closer. “Don’t hurt them too badly.”

Levi raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you going to get even? That doesn’t sound like you.”

“Of course I am.” Eren shrugged, unconcerned. “But they expect retribution, so it won’t be as effective if I do it now. Besides, waiting a few weeks will make them twitchy. It’s more fun this way.”

Huh. Maybe the brat had a point.

“Levi, please don’t smile like that, it makes you look insane.”

“Hypocrite.”

“Rude!”


End file.
